Page 4 of Noah
I was here as a roadie for the Authors. Same as always.
Why the fuck couldn’t I remember anything more than that? How the fuck had I ended up in Noah’s bed?
Then it all came sliding back. We had dinner last night with the whole band at one of Rivers’ favorite restaurants. Then Noah and I came back here to work on some business ideas for the band. They wanted a new record deal–with a new company–and Noah had some thoughts about how to do it. Something about new songs. He’d wanted my feedback on his ideas before he took them to the band, and I’d said yes.
I wasn’t in the band, but they were my life. These boys were my brothers. And Noah was my best friend. If he needed help, I would have sold my soul to give it to him.
We’d worked into the night, going back and forth on different possibilities, and at some point, I’d fallen asleep. Here in bed.
With Noah.
I ran my hands quickly over my body, suddenly panicked, but I was still fully clothed. Jean shorts and a t-shirt. My bra was digging into my side. Nothing had happened.
Of course nothing happened, a sharp voice in my brain said.Noah doesn’t think of you that way. He brought you up here to work on an idea. Not as a conquest.You’re his friend and nothing more.
The voice was right. If Noah had been interested in me, we wouldn’t have wasted any time working on a business idea. And I definitely wouldn’t still have my clothes on.
Look, the guy was my best friend and I’d been on tour with him three times. I knew how he operated. I knew how easily he got girls into bed... and then forgot about them the next day.
I cringed at the thought and sent it away as quickly as I’d had it. Noah was my best friend. My big brother. I didn’t need to know what he did with other girls, and I didn’t want to. And I had absolutely never wondered what it would be like tobeone of those other girls. I didn’t want to know how it would feel for him to look at me like I was more than just a shoulder to cry on. Someone to run his errands and give him feedback. A girl to keep his schedule for him and tell him when he was due on stage. I’d never wanted him to look at me like I was worth the world, and then drag me into his bed. Ravage me like he’d been waiting years to get his hands on me. Hold me down and kiss me as if his life depended on it.
Take me to heights I’d never imagined.
I shook my head and stopped thinking about it. Because I knew him, and I knew he’d never do any of that. If he did, it would be the end of our relationship. He didn’t keep those sorts of girls around. And I didn’t want that for myself. Even if he wanted me, I’d have said no. I was better than that. Iknewbetter than that. Noah was my friend, and nothing more.
And at that moment, he rolled over and took me in his arms, nosing into my neck and breathing softly like he’d just found the very thing he was searching for. He smelled of whiskey and cigarettes, and when he scooped my body back against him, he was hard and throbbing, his hips rocking like he had only one thing on his mind.
And God, I wanted him. This boy–this man–had been my first real friend at the orphanage. The first one to take any notice of me, and once he did, he never stopped. He kept me by his side at all hours, making sure I was safe and as well-fed as possible, and on the rare occasions when he was sent to a foster home for a weekend, he made sure one of his friends was watching out for me. He’d been everything to me from the moment I met him.
He groaned, his hand moving down my body to my hip and pressing me more firmly against him, and I gasped when his cock slid between my legs, hard and ready. God, was he fuckingnaked? My shorts had never felt smaller or tighter, and my body took over. I arched my back and rocked my own hips, and he gave me a growl colored by a smile.
Holy fuck, I was wet and aching so bad I could hardly stand it, and that was what brought me back to my senses. What the fuck was I doing? Noah wasn’t for me. I had never been one of the girls who dressed up and pranced around in front of him. I didn’t flirt with him or tell him how great he was. I didn’t play his games, and he’d never wanted me to.
Laying here with my ass pressed against his cock, his fingers trailing down my belly, was a huge mistake. I had to get out of here now, before we did something we would both regret.
Luckily, I didn’t have to do that on my own. He woke up and jerked away from me like he’d had the same thought. There was a long, mortifying pause, when I was sure he was wondering why the hell he’d broughtmeto his bed, and then he chucked softly.
“Been years since I’ve seen you this early in the morning, Bug. Did we fall asleep working?”
Of course he would assume that. Turn this all into some big joke. Because the alternative–that he’d wanted to take me to bed–would never have occurred to him. He probably didn’t even remember most of last night. He’d been full of ideas but too drunk to write many memories, and he wouldn’t have thought he needed to.
After all, I’d been there to remember everything for him.
I closed my eyes again, put the mask I always wore back on, and gave him a sleepy smile over my shoulder. “We must have. I’m going to go have a shower. Remember we have a meeting with Taylor at 10, in the restaurant. Try not to be late.”
And I slid out of bed and made for the door, not bothering to look for my shoes. I’d come back and find them later, once I put myself together again and shoved my feelings back down where they belonged.
Once I remembered how to be around him without wanting to either stab or kiss him.
Because either one of those would get me into trouble, and I just wasn’t in the mood.
2
NOAH
She was out of bed and hustling for the door the moment I stopped talking, and I sat up, frowning. Where the fuck did she think she was going? We literally just woke up.
“Where the fuck are you going?” I asked, the words jumping out of my mouth before I could rethink them.
